Great Lakes Now

Midwest States Struggle to Fund Dam Safety Projects, Even as Federal Aid Hits Historic Highs | Great Lakes Now

9 min read

Midwest States Struggle to Fund Dam Safety Projects, Even as Federal Aid Hits Historic Highs

By Kristoffer Tigue, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

MINNEAPOLIS—A record amount of federal aid will soon flow to states to help fix, replace or demolish their aging dams, many of which are under increasing pressure as climate change fuels more frequent and severe extreme weather events.

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Climate change Great Lakes Now Lake Michigan

Joliet, Illinois, Plans to Source Its Future Drinking Water From Lake Michigan. Will Other Cities Follow? | Great Lakes Now

7 min read

Joliet, Illinois, Plans to Source Its Future Drinking Water From Lake Michigan. Will Other Cities Follow?

By Nina Elkadi, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

The aquifer from which Joliet, Illinois, sources its drinking water is likely going to run too dry to support the city by 2030—a problem more and more communities are facing as the climate changes and groundwater declines.

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Great Lakes Now

How do fish survive in large urban waterways, like the Chicago River? | Great Lakes Now

5 min read

How do fish survive in large urban waterways, like the Chicago River?

How fish adapt to life in large urban rivers, like the Chicago River, is one of the questions Dr. Austin Happel is trying to answer at the Shedd Aquarium.

“Knowing where different fish species are hanging out, we can look around that area and kind of understand what that habitat looks like and what it’s providing for them,” Happel said.

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Column Opinion Owen Sound Sun Times

U.S. farm groups talk policy as politicians pay it little heed

For U.S. agriculture, the current presidential election campaign has yielded little significant news, let alone farm policy proposals. That doesn’t mean U.S. farmers lack policy issues to ponder. For one thing, the dysfunction of Congress in recent years has left in limbo the reoccurring federal legislation that governs much about U.S. farm policy. The five-year […]

Climate change Great Lakes Now Lake Michigan

Chicago’s beach season is over … or is it? Lake Michigan temps are breaking records. | Great Lakes Now

5 min read

Chicago’s beach season is over … or is it? Lake Michigan temps are breaking records.

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, WBEZ

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for WBEZ newsletters to get local news you can trust.

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Great Lakes Echo

GUEST COMMENTARY: Speak up to stop the spotted lanternfly and other invaders | Great Lakes Echo

5 min read

By David Strayer If you’ve driven Michigan’s highways lately, you’ve probably seen the billboards: a big picture of a lanternfly, with the message, “See it. Squish it. Report it.” This is good advice, as far as it goes, but it should go further. The spotted lanternfly is a serious pest that is poised to cause […]

The post GUEST COMMENTARY: Speak up to stop the spotted lanternfly and other invaders first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Great Lakes Now

Groundwater: Who’s in charge? | Great Lakes Now

6 min read

Groundwater: Who’s in charge?

In the early 2000s a movement to address the plight of the heavily polluted and long neglected Great Lakes started to gain traction.

The goal was to bring the gravitas of the federal government to the issue and in 2004 President George W. Bush signed an executive order declaring the lakes a “national treasure.” An interagency task force was established to bring together the disparate efforts of various federal programs who had been working independently on Great Lakes issues.

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